March 2024
Important Events
- March 6, 2024: Class trip to Queensborough Performing Arts Center
- March 7, 2024: Parent-Teacher Conferences- half-day for students
- March 29, 2024 – April 1, 2024: Schools closed for Good Friday/Easter
Reading
In module 7, children will read and listen to stories about important people. These stories will help children recognize that people’s lives are shaped and molded by their experiences. Children will learn that every person has a story—and it may be a very fascinating one. In many cases, the stories in this module may describe events that are very similar to the experiences that the children have had. Children may be inspired after reading how closely the story of a very important person resembles their own! At home, read and discuss books about important people. Ask questions about how their experiences changed and molded their lives and experiences.
Writing
In module 7, children will learn about characters in imaginative stories. An imaginative text is a made-up story. It has characters that are usually imaginary people or animals. In these stories children will develop characters in their narratives by thinking about the experiences they have. They can also think about how a character acts and what that tells us about him or her. At home, have your child use costumes or dress-up items and talk about what kind of characters would wear these items.
Phonics
Unit 12 in this unit we will practice two more sounds: oi and oy. Diphthong oi is found in the beginning or middle of a words. Diphthong oy is used at the end of a word. We will also review six types of syllables previously learned. In Unit 13 we will practice digraphs oa, oe, and ow. Digraph ow we will study this unit has the ow sound such as in snow or flow. We will also review base words and suffixes. Suffixes are letters added to the end of a base word to change its conjugation, word type, or other grammar properties like plurality. Additionally, we will differentiate between a vowel suffix (start with a vowel) and a consonant suffix (starts with a consonant).
Math
In unit 8 we will be learning to tell and write time to the hour and half hour, to telling time to
the nearest five minutes as well as describing times as a.m. or p.m. Also, children will use
their understanding of place value and addition and subtraction developed in previous chapters to solve word problems involving dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. They calculate total value for varying money amounts, show the value of one dollar with coins, and find the value of amounts greater than one dollar. Understanding how money amounts are read will prepare children for learning about decimals. At home you can have your child sort and count loose change to find the value of money In topic 9 students expand their skills with an understanding of units by bundling ones, tens, and hundreds up to a thousand. Second graders begin to understand a number generally consists of three units: hundreds, tens, and ones. Furthermore, in this unit of instruction includes a great deal of counting: by ones, tens, and hundreds. Counting-up using the centimeter tape or a classroom number line shows movement from left to right as the numbers increase.
Science
Properties of Matter. Our unit question is, ‘How can you design a mixture for a certain purpose?’ In this unit, students take on the role of glue engineers and use engineering design practices to create a glue for use at school, which serves as the design problem for the unit. They conduct hands-on investigations to observe properties of a variety of possible glue ingredients and learn how certain materials respond to heating and cooling. Over the course of the unit, students conduct tests that yield quantifiable results, graph their data, analyze and interpret results, and then use that evidence to iteratively design a series of glue mixtures, each one better than the one before.